Check out almost any Formula One related message board or forum and you are sure to find a thread, or fifteen, devoted to television coverage of the sport. Be it the lack of live coverage, advertising breaks, poor commentary or simply the race director's insistence on covering the 'local hero', F1 TV broadcasting is a subject on which everyone has an opinion.

In Britain, the focus of much of the discussion is British broadcaster ITV, which won the rights to host F1 coverage from 1997 having secured a behind the scenes deal with Bernie Ecclestone. The BBC, which had brought F1 into the living rooms of race fans for as long as anyone can remember, wasn't even involved in the negotiations, with its commentator, Murray Walker, learning of the deal on the radio news.

Much was promised, with ITV hosting a special gala night of F1 stars to celebrate its coup, however, for the most part, race fans might argue that it all went downhill from there.

Recently, finding himself at a loose end on Sunday afternoons, former Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn has had to endure the same coverage that the rest of us are expected to accept, he was not impressed, far from it. The Englishman admitted that he was greatly disappointed by the failure of the ITV crew to pass on vital information which was available to them, thereby not keeping race fans fully up to speed. Brawn summed up ITV's coverage as "frustrating".

Pitpass' Mike Lawrence then voiced his opinion, but unlike race fans, who single out individual members of the ITV broadcast team, he laid the blame fairly and squarely at the feet of the production crew, accusing them of "patronising" race fans.

In a recent interview, Renault's Pat Symonds described TV coverage as "20 century", saying that broadcasters are not getting the best out of the sport. Symonds cited the "lack of information being given to viewers", the lack of good computer graphics and the use of simulations. He also believes there should be more insight into the drivers, people involved in the sport and the actual technology. Currently, he believes, TV is "treating F1 in a superficial manner".

It is unclear whether by getting further insight into the drivers Pat meant cooking lessons with Heikki, but that's for another day.

Furthermore, in recent weeks, race fans in Britain have become increasingly frustrated at the obvious bias in ITV's coverage, with regards Lewis Hamilton, with Pitpass forum users counting 30 references to the McLaren driver in the build up to Saturday's qualifying session alone.

Therefore, and this is sure to get the message boards and forums buzzing, it comes as <understatement> something of a surprise </understatement>, to learn that members of the ITV crew are up for three awards in the Royal Television Society's Sports Awards 2006.

Martin Brundle is up for the 'Sports Pundit' award, while Steve Rider is nominated for his work in three different sports, the Champions League, World Cup 2006 and F1 2006. Finally, James Allen is one of three nominations for best Sports Commentator, the others being Simon Holt (Channel 4 Racing) and John Rawling (The Big Fight Live).

The winners will be announced on Tuesday May 29.

Bet you can't wait.